Desmond Elliot: There’ll be no Nigeria in five years if we don’t tackle social media

Desmond Elliot, a Nollywood actor who is representing Surulere constituency in the Lagos state house of assembly, says there’ll be no Nigeria in five years if the vices of social media aren’t tackled.

The film star had earlier denied claims by Harvey Olufumilayo, a Twitter influencer, that he pushed for a bill to regulate social media — sparking controversy on Twitter.

But on Thursday, a video of Elliot speaking at a recent plenary — where he addressed the vices of social media — surfaced and went viral on the microblogging platform.

In the video, the lawmaker reacted to the unrest that trailed the shooting of #EndSARS protesters at Lekki toll gate.

“We need to address certain things: Nigerian youth; social media; social influencers. These make the narrative that we’re seeing today. Except we’re joking with ourselves, social media has its negative impacts,” he can be heard saying.

“Let me first thank you for condemning the wanton killings and carnage that happened at Lekki. When I went through the comments, I could not believe it, Mr. Speaker. Curses, the abuses from children.

“And I asked myself, ‘Is this Nigeria? What is going on? Children cursing. People having the effrontery to enter an Oba’s palace and hold his staff of office? Culture is gone!

“Mr. Speaker, in the next five years, there will be no Nigeria if we don’t start now. The youth is not only those who do the peaceful protest. Those who have looted and destroyed lives, they are youths as well.

“Pregnant women went into malls, picked things, and went away. When shall we change this narrative? I put it to all the celebrities out there and all the motivational speakers. This is the only country we have.

“When anything happens, what is our common say is ‘we die here’. Please celebrities and social media influencers, stop the hatred already. You have a means constitutionally to change the government, it’s called your PVC.”

Elliot had a few weeks ago provoked outrage on social media after he defended and described his own political career as being a product of godfatherism.